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Gangster No. 1 (2000)

Rate: 7
Viewed: 11/19

GangNo1
11/19: Gangster No. 1 was shaping up to be an excellent British gangster picture until the foot was taken off the pedal with thirty minutes left, allowing it to go waste.

For starters, I'm impressed with the 60's-70's look, and I can tell by the thin, ugly appearance of the females. It's one thing the filmmakers got right. Another is the demeanor of many actors, most especially Paul Bettany (who can pass for a young Malcolm McDowell look-alike) and David Thewlis which is nothing flashy but straightforward acting. It's almost Get Carter all over again.

Everything was working out so well until Gangster 55 was done with torturing Lennie Taylor. Prior to it is a heavy-handed narration of what he's doing every step of the way. It's when the movie started to lose me. Then, everybody feels the need to be lazy by opting for a rush job to wrap things up in thirty minutes by skipping decades so quickly until Malcolm McDowell, as Gangster 55, has his chance to scream at Freddie Mays which borders between absurd and cartoonish. Um, Sexy Beast all over again?

Given what happened, I get the point: Gangster 55 hates what he has become before killing himself because he's been eaten alive by his anger. Freddie Mays, by comparison, is more well-dressed and polished in manners, looks respectable, and is in control, winning the game at the end. There are probably a lot of repressed homosexual feelings within Gangster 55 which are not explored enough. Yet why did the filmmakers have to throw away a fine movie to make such a simplistic point?

All in all, Gangster No. 1 is a weak '7' picture that deserves a better director to finish on a high note.